Time Tracking for Graphic Designers, without breaking your Creative Flow

I’ve been freelancing full-time as a graphic designer and web developer for over 25 years (here’s how TallyHo came to be), and honestly, we’ve got it pretty good these days. The tools are better, the clients understand digital work more, and cities are nicely set up to work from home, cafe or public library.

But one thing that hasn’t changed much, most of us creative types are still a bit rubbish at tracking our time properly. And I get it – when you’re in the flow, the last thing you want to do is stop and fiddle with some clunky time tracker.

All those “quick tweaks” and “just five more minutes” sessions, they add up to serious money. I reckon most graphic designers lose track of 1-2 billable hours every single day. Let’s do some quick maths. If you’re charging $75/hour and losing just 1.5 hours a day to untracked work, that’s $29,250 per year. That’s a decent car, a bloody good holiday, or enough 5K monitors to build a proper battlestation. You get the picture.

What Makes Graphic Design Time Tracking Tricky

Working as a solo graphic designer means you’re juggling way more than just the actual design work. Your day might look something like:

The Visible Stuff:

• Sketching concepts
• Creating mockups in Figma or Illustrator
• Client presentations
• Revisions (heaps of revisions…)

The Invisible Stuff That Still Counts:

• Researching visual trends
• Organising design assets
• Responding to client emails
• File preparation and exports
• That 20-minute “quick call” that turned into project planning

The problem with most time trackers is they’re built for people who sit at desks doing one thing at a time. That’s not how creative work happens. You need something that fits seamlessly into your actual workflow, not something that disrupts it.

Track Absolutely Everything (Yes, Everything)

Here’s where I see most designers go wrong: they only track the “proper” design work. But those 5-minute client emails? The quick photo search? The time spent converting files for different platforms? It all counts.

Start thinking of your time in terms of client benefit. If what you’re doing helps their project move forward, it’s billable. Period.

Track These Often-Missed Activities:

• Email responses and project communication
• Asset hunting and stock photo research
• File organisation and version control
• Printing and presentation prep
• Quick client calls or video meetings
• Design software updates and troubleshooting

Capture the “Thinking Time”

This is the big one that most designers miss completely. You know those moments when you’re not actively designing but your brain is still working on the project? That counts too.

I’ve had some of my best design breakthroughs while walking the dog, or in the shower, or lying in bed at 2am when my brain suddenly figures out why that layout wasn’t working. That’s not free time – that’s your expertise at work.

Log These Creative Moments:

• Inspiration gathering and mood boarding
• Concept development while away from the desk
• Problem-solving during downtime
• Visual research and trend analysis
• Sketching ideas on the back of a receipt (we’ve all been there)

The trick is having a system that lets you capture these moments quickly, without breaking your flow.

Be Everywhere Your Work Is

Creative work doesn’t happen in just one place. You might sketch on the train, review proofs on your phone, or have a client call while you’re out grabbing coffee.

Your tracking system needs to be:

• Available on your phone for those mobile moments
• Quick enough that you can log time in seconds, not minutes
• Forgiving enough that you can backfill forgotten sessions
• Smart enough to understand “30 mins Apple website concept”
• Able to create new clients and projects on-the-fly

I keep a small notebook as backup too. Sometimes the simplest tools are the most reliable.

Set Micro-Habits

The best time tracking happens so automatically you barely notice it. Instead of trying to remember to start and stop timers, build tiny habits that just become part of your natural workflow:

After client calls: Immediately log the time while details are fresh End of each work block: One-minute review of what you accomplished Daily wrap-up: Quick scan for any missed activities

The goal is making time tracking feel like part of the work, not an extra burden on top of it.

Use Natural Language

This is where a lot of time trackers fall down. They want you to pick from dropdown menus and fill in forms when what you really need is to quickly jot down “45 mins Morrison LookBook 2025 Brochure”

Look for tools that let you describe your work naturally, then organise it automatically. Your future invoicing self will thank you.

Making It Work Long-Term

The best time tracking system is the one you’ll actually use consistently. After trying everything from complex project management tools to simple pen-and-paper methods, I’ve learned that simplicity wins every time.

What Actually Works:

• Quick capture (under 20 seconds to log an activity)
• Natural language entry
• Works across all your devices
• Gives you insights into your most profitable work
• Integrates with however you handle invoicing

The goal isn’t to become obsessive about every minute. It’s to get an accurate picture of where your time really goes, so you can price projects properly and spot the work that’s actually profitable.

The Bottom Line

Good time tracking isn’t about squeezing more hours into your day – it’s about getting paid fairly for the work you’re already doing. And as creative freelancers, we’re doing way more valuable work than we give ourselves credit for.

That thinking time? That’s your years of experience solving problems. The quick client calls? That’s relationship management. The file organisation? That’s professional service delivery.

All of it has value. All of it deserves to be tracked. And all of it should be reflected in what you charge.

After nearly three decades of freelancing, I can tell you that the designers who track their time well are the ones who can afford to be choosy about their projects. They know their worth because they can see exactly where their value lies.

And that’s a pretty good place to be.

Steve Leggat has been freelancing in design and web development since 1996. He runs Front&Back, a solo design company in Auckland, and runs TallyHo, a time tracking tool designed specifically for freelancers who want to capture their time naturally without the complexity of team-focused apps.